COSTAATT's Communication Evolution!!

Hello to our dear and most cherished followers.

COSTAATT Social Media Avengers would this week explore the evolution of communication throughout the years at COSTAATT. Even though our initial focus was on social media, it changed to exploring communication on the whole in COSTAATT. This was simply because we

 Since most of the group members started their academia in 2008 we saw it as a fitting start. Through the years this College has come a very long way with its use of the many communication tools that are to its disposal. In case you forgot, they are:

-Email
-Text message
- E-classroom
-Social Media- Facebook
                        Twitter
                        Flickr

Anyone who has been in the system five years and more can testify that communication outside the classroom was non existent. They did not even have a properly functioning website. Most communication took place through the good ol' noticeboard.   One of our group members almost did not bother to apply to COSTAATT because of this. However, administration along with IT worked tirelessly to bring us the seeming well function system we have today. A student,when asked how COSTAATT has evolved over the years, gave this account : She recounted that in 2007 when she started attending the college, many times she would turn up for class only to find out that class was postponed. This made her upset most of the times since she is living in Chaguanas. Most students have been through a similar scenario. Fortunately, the College has taken great strides in helping to curb some of these grievances by utilizing many tools available to it. So now students are most times forewarned about any interruption of class most times in advance.

These messages often go through mediums of text messages, e-mails or phone calls. Last year was quite significant in the timely way various bulletins came from the college. One that stood out was the day that Port of Spain was inundated with lots of rain. Messages via emails and texts were sent warning students not to venture into the city unnecessarily.  Another instance that should be mentioned would be last year November. It was the Friday night before graduation, messages of traffic disruptions were sent out so students got a “heads up” to leave home a bit earlier as a result.

Now along with those communication tools, COSTAATT has begun to venture into the social networking. There is the addition of social media networking services like the many Facebook pages that carries the school’s image; to in recent times Flickr, where both current and past students have access to view their graduation photos with a proud smile upon their face. One can indeed give credit for where it is due. The College of Technology and Applied Arts of Trinidad and Tobago has sure made some inroads in their zeal of keeping in contact with its internal public. They still have a way to go as their are issues that still need to be addressed to have effective communication. For example establishing a social media policy. It seems as though there isn't one as almost all of COSTAATT's Facebook pages are run by students. Also there needs to be better participation from both students and administration in order to make this work.

Unfortunately one semester was not enough time to iron out all the kinks. We do hope however, that this project has made a positive impact in improving the communication system which currently exist. We must admit though, they have made a big improvement from what we knew it to be. And for that....Kudos!

COSTAATT and its many Facebook pages

We saved this one for last. Not necessarily because it's the best but because it was the most confusing. 

Research conducted by Social Media Avengers Group shows that Facebook is the most widely used social media communication tool of choice for students at (COSTAATT). The screenshot below shows a question posted to students concerning which social media they use and how often. Facebook was the number one choice and for COSTAATT the one service they should utilize.

As you may know by now (from hopefully reading our blogs) COSTAATT does indeed have Facebook pages: Over 20 page. 

However, at the time of the group’s research there were no findings to show that the college maintains a Facebook page.  No clear insight into when an official page will be incorporated into the college’s communication mandate was shared with us. 

While those in charge try to figure things out, the students and lectures of COSTAATT have created their own Facebook pages. All of them bear the college’s logo. In one or two instances lecturers create pages for their classes. The pages used by lecturers are usually closed groups and create a more interactive environment than e-classroom. The picture on the left shows a group our lecturer created for our class. He uploaded all class material on the group and we even had online classes through it. When he was correcting our papers he gave us feedback as he corrected them (anonymously though because that would have been rel embarrassment) which some of us thought was pretty cool.

There are also Facebook pages per faculty and per school. The large varieties of Facebook pages by students do help students stay in contact with each other within their field of study. In-so-much as this is helpful it also have a down side.

The general college information shared in relation to students and the college can be (and is done) in most cases by word of mouth.

The inconsistency and lack of clarity of information shared from student to student in some instances can delay, and hamper students. 

Although there is no easy fix when it comes to how communication is done by any college, we believe that having an organized system in place helps to keep the dissemination of all information to members of the college consistent and accurate.

An official COSTAATT Facebook page managed by the college’s communication department and distinguishable from other Facebook pages bearing the college’s logo will (we are sure) assist greatly in how information is shared from the college to all students. Also they need to advertise this Facebook page and not keep it hidden like what they do with Twitter. That's the only way people will know!!

As the social media landscape evolves, and expands more options are created almost daily and/weekly to keep users online and involved. Technology has also played an important role in the amount of time spent online.

Hand held devices cellular phones and tablets are constantly being up-dated to mimic the computer. In many instances there is no need for a computer to send e-mail, write and or edit a word document, and or conduct any form of research. These devices also carry many applications that make communication through the social media spectrum easy and accessible to any and everyone who owns and uses cellular phones, and tablets.

With the easy access to social media, COSTAATT needs to step up their game and be more vigilant in this aspect.

UPDATE YOUR PROFILE!!

The College of Science Technology & Applied Arts of Trinidad and Tobago (COSTAATT) should encourage students to up-date their school profile as part of the registration process or at least twice a year. Students seem to be surprised when they hear that COSTAATT sends text message notifications to students. Some become irate and blame COSTAATT. However is it COSTAATT's fault this time?

The COSTAATT Social Media Avengers got to work to rectify this problem. We conducted research to give an insight into some of the reasons students are missing and/or at times not getting information put out by the college through SMS (check picture on left). Besides the poll on Facebook we spoke to students about the issue. The responses gathered were as follows:

• COSTAATT sends text messages?
• I can update up profile?
• Why can't COSTAATT just update it?
• My number is there but I still don't get messages.

Student's phone contact is important to keep up-to-date as COSTAATT utilizes a mass communication system via cellular phone to alert students on college matters including emergencies: Cancelled classes, weather (storm) warnings and grade detail for gate services for a new semester.

When students use banner to up-date their profile information, examples of other things that can be adjusted are marital status which will show a change in name also address and phone contact information along with e-mail.

If you are not sure how to update your profile, follow this step by step instructions:

• Log on to banner
• Go to Personal Information
• Click update addresses and phones
• Follow instructions

As easy as that!!

Although text messaging is not directly considered a social media tool it is an important aspect of communication from the college to students. The Social Media Avengers Group members strongly believe that there should be a once or twice yearly profile up-date invitation sent to all students via e-mail and / or text messaging.

This is one of the observations that were noted as we conduct ongoing social media research on COSTAATT and students. As part of our research we are looking at all possible ways the COSTAATT communication department can keep students up-to-date on all that relates to their education, and all other components of being a student at the institution.

The next leg of our research take a look at COSTAATT’S many Facebook pages.

Why is there a gap in communication?

The College of Science Technology & Applied Arts of Trinidad and Tobago (COSTAATT) like other colleges and universities are finding out that staying in-touch with students via social media is not easy. Even with the advent of social media. 

Currently, COSTAATT uses two forms of communication tools to interact with its student population. One is e-mail. This was made mandatory for students about two to three years ago. In its infancy, one of the draw backs of this was some students only accessed their e-mail as a registration requirement. Another problem was that students were initially receiving emails other than school related business. It was frustrating to students as information that was delivered to in-boxes were not filtered. However, this problem has since been rectified.

Another form of communication that the college uses is short messaging service (SMS). From time to time administration would send text messages to students via the mobile phone. This type of communication is immediate and to the point, for those students who registered their numbers or update regularly. 

However, the big question is why do some students miss college information, after all these communication tools are put in place? One of the reasons can be the over reliance on peers either from classes, personal groups or online peers groups to get information. Another reason that maybe over looked by many is that although most people in this country have a smart phone or access to the internet, there are still those who have limited or no access to internet.  This at times can be taken for granted, so for example some students may only get to view their e-mail accounts when they are on the campus or if they can at work.  As such the issue of the internet divide is still a reality.

Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that there would be continual communication between administration and students, but what can be achieved is a smoother flow with how it is disseminated.  So it is about lessening that gap. Also keep those social media forum that exist updated. 

This is an example of one of the (so called) campus’s out-of-date social media communication page. 

This is one example of a page used (supposedly) for campus news. It was last up-dated around Thursday April 4th 2013. Up-date before this is Saturday 6th October 2012. With this irregularity, students have lost interest and would continue to lose interest in keeping up with the college on social media.

This is an example of a group/peers page that is used by students for information filtering. One of the more widely used COSTAATT group pages on Facebook. COSTAATT group

There are many groups and pages that are set up by students for students. All most every student activity and subject of study has a page on Facebook bearing the COSTAATT logo. This does not mean the page or group is related or affiliated with the COSTAATT administration. 

How do you feel about this?

To Tweet or not to Tweet? That is the question....

As we know, COSTAATT actually has a Twitter account. Surprisingly it is an active account. The last tweet was advising students that the campus would not be open for Divali.
Before we mentioned COSTAATT has one Twitter account. However, upon further investigation we found four more:

COSTAATT Portal- 129 followers- 112 tweets (last tweet November 1- joined 2012)
COSTAATT Admissions- 50 followers - 6 tweets (last tweet November 13- joined twitter this year)
COSTAATT Library   - 43 followers- 18 Tweets (last tweet November 11-first tweet for the semester)
COSTAATT Events    - 51 followers - 0 Tweets (joined Twitter in 2010)
COSTAATT Social Club - 24 followers- 3 tweets (last tweet in September 2009!!)

Why is it that no more than 129 people follow COSTAATT in a school with thousands of Students? Is it a lack of advertising or students just aren't that interested? We were not able to ask the entire school population but we were determined to show that more than 129 people in COSTAATT use Twitter.

It was a bit challenging to ask more students but from the 50 asked they all had Twitter accounts and only 12 of them follow COSTAATT. When asked why the responses were:

- "I didn't know they had one".                                
- "Why follow them if they don't upkeep it?"
- "I'm not following them".
- "Girl I don't have time for COSTAATT".

Why this lack of interest?

We checked out foreign universities Twitter Accounts and they all have 3000 plus followers and their tweets are consistent with the last being a few hours ago.  All their social media accounts are advertised on their schools home page only social
media COSTAATT advertisers is FLICKR mainly for Grad pics.

Our local universities are way ahead of COSTAATT in the Twitter game. UWI joined Twitter in 2009 and currently has over 6,000 followers and tweets consistently about school related topics. However it is not advertised on their website. One account was discovered for UTT joined the same year as UWI but currently only have a little over 1000 followers with a bit of irregular tweeting. They advertise it on their website even though they have less followers than UWI.

So what's up with COSTAATT?

COSTAATT and Instagram

For those of you who don’t know what Instagram is, it’s a photo/video sharing and social networking app. In April 2012 they had over 10 million registered users and we are sure it surpassed this figure since it has only gained even more popularity since then.

• In our quest to find about COSTAATT’s use of social media, we found out that they do not have an Instagram account. We want to know is this necessarily a bad think?

Below are students suggestions both for an against COSTAATT Instagram account.

Students views

For

·      Many students believe they are bombarded with information everywhere they turn but Instagram offers a visual solution.

·      It’s a way to show students a side they re not accustom to seeing and develop a relationship with them. 

·      Provide visual information, like a picture of students in line waiting to pay fees with hashtags – school fees deadline

·      Can be used as a picture gallery – other than Flickr it can be used to post pictures of football matches, clubs and graduation.

·      Promotion of events

·      Showcase for student achievement like photography or even decorations to the building (Independence day) 

·      Good way to motivate students during exam periods using creative memes (see image below)

Possible Caption: Don't be this guy

Against

·      Some students believe students won’t follow COSTAATT on Instagram because ‘it’s a waste of their time’ and therefore defeating the purpose of creating the account in the first place.

•       The administration staff isn’t tech savvy to manage the account.

Our views

We think this would be a wise decision for COSTAATT to create an Instagram account. In the end it can only enhance their online presence and engage with the students and alumni that are already has profiles. They may even have potential to persuade some to create Instagram profiles.

Your Views

What are you thoughts?

Update time!! Where we started and where we are going....

     If you have been following our blog, you know what our project is all about but for our new followers we will sum it up in a nutshell. We are 6 mass communication students on a mission to find out if COSTAATT administration is using social media at its full potential to communicate with its students.

    This project started out with lots of brainstorming but we soon realized that putting these wonderful ideas into action is exhausting and time consuming with each of our busy schedules. However when things started to move from idea to action the workload began to fall on few particular group members. However being the good mass communications students we are, members were able to communicate (threaten) the rest of us to improve…or else!! As we all know, group projects are tough but once you are working with the right people they can be a breeze.

Even though our project is about improving communication through using social media, we realised that the college has a few problems. Upon speaking to students, we found out that the school's e-mail is not used as often as it should. It is a major communication tool but students for one reason or the other do not use it. We found the same problem with e-classroom. So before we continued with improving communication using social media we had to investigate these problems. I mean if COSTAATT is giving us tools to make our college experience easier and we are not using them, would anything else work?


What do you think?